"I say to the people of Queensland that, with this government, they do have something to fear.

"This Bill encroaches on their personal freedoms and liberties.

"A government that tries to remove these freedoms and liberties is a government that is to be feared."

Fast-forward to 2014, with Mr Bleijie now in government and seeking to defend his introduction of a Bill which will destroy the independence of Queensland’s anti-corruption watchdog, the Crime and Misconduct Commission.

Mr Bleijie, in common with the Director-General of his Department, Mr John Sosso, has been unable to provide one single shred of justification for the removal of the requirement for bi-partisan appointment.

To suggest the requirement for bipartisanship somehow ‘leaves the appointment process open to politicisation’ is ridiculous.

It is even more extraordinary to make such a statement in the absence of any evidence, or any recommendation being made in three recent reports about the CMC.

Dr Levy raised the concern that there was a risk the government would “get rid of the CMC” if he did so.

Hardly the words of a fearless watchdog.

It should be noted that Dr Levy, as an acting appointment to the role of chair, has not been appointed on a bipartisan basis.

His tenure has been marked by controversy, the latest instalment of which involves the question of when the premier knew that David Gibson MP, chair of the Select Committee on Ethics formed to investigate Dr Levy, had himself been charged with theft during his time in the Army.

Mr Bleijie seeks to comfort the public that some accountability will be retained in the CCC. He says the PCMC ‘will, under nearly all circumstances’ hold public hearings, suggesting the CCC’s hierarchy will

'... be under more scrutiny than ever before’.

There are two rejoinders which must be made to this statement.

Firstly, the PCMC is the very body the Premier unilaterally decided to sack when it was getting too close to revealing the misleading of Parliament by the government’s appointed acting chair — Ken Levy.

The Speaker of the House subsequently received legal advice to the effect that the Premier’s actions in sacking the PCMC had been legal. There appears to be no cogent reason why the Premier would not take the same step again in the future to shut down inquiry into the CCC.

Secondly, the explanatory memoranda for the Bill to create the CCC, prepared by Mr Bleijie’s own Department, says:

‘The [PCMC] currently holds public meetings with the commission except for discussing confidential or sensitive information. The proposed amendment to require public meetings formalises the current practice.’

Far from introducing some new level of accountability and transparency, this legislative change would simply ‘formalise current practice’. It may be observed that it does not matter a great deal whether the PCMC hearings are public or private if the body it is overseeing is beholden to government and the PCMC membership know they can be sacked, without any proper foundation, at the Premier’s pleasure.

The new CCC may well be fearless, relentless and effective when dealing with those who oppose the government of the day. It is how diligently it questions Government corruption ‒ the most serious of all forms of corruption, since the Government holds the State’s treasure and levers of power ‒ that make the changes so perilous.

‘If the Bill is enacted in its present form, partisan appointments will follow and Liberal National Party politicians will not have to worry about their conduct while opposition politicians will be at constant risk.’

Mr Fitzgerald’s new stuff is, to be sure, very much as good as his old stuff.

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